ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Wednesday was a monumental day for Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos.
But there was no cake or candles to celebrate the historic day.
“Bo Nix is going to be our starting quarterback,” the head coach announced to the Denver media on Wednesday afternoon, minutes after the team wrapped up practice.
Typically, a big decision such as naming a starting quarterback is done in front of the entire team during a meeting. There’s an announcement from the head coach. There’s cheering from the players.
None of that happened on Wednesday.
Instead, Payton took a very unique approach to breaking the news to Nix, Jarrett Stidham, Zach Wilson, the media and the world.
“Right out here on the practice field before practice. I just grabbed each one of them,” Payton said, admitting he told the quarterbacks about the massive decision in a very casual way. “I didn’t want to read about this in the national media before I spoke to you guys.”
The head coach didn’t bring the sparklers and confetti out to the practice field.
“He smiled and he was good. We’re getting ready to practice, and that was it,” Payton said of Nix’s reaction to the news, before cracking a joke. “We didn’t have cake and candles or anything like that.”
“He walked up and said that he was going to tell you guys this afternoon [and said], ‘Let’s have a good practice,’” Nix said, recalling the monumental moment in his career.
“It was really cool. It’s not every day [you] get that news,” Denver’s first-round pick said, explaining the emotions of finding out he’ll be the Broncos’ Week 1 starter. “Obviously as a room, we’ve been working hard, putting a lot of good things on film and putting a lot of good things on the practice field. To get that news is definitely a great thing. So I’m super excited and ready to get back to work again. Go back to it and start again.”
Two hours after getting the news, Nix hadn’t told a single soul. He hadn’t been able to celebrate the news with his friends, family or even his wife since he had been at practice.
“They probably have already heard from you guys,” the 24-year-old rookie said with a smile. “We will talk about it later, I’m sure. They will be excited, and they will all tell me the same thing, which is it doesn’t change a thing. You have to go back and work. Now, the expectations and the standards are even higher. Have to get back to doing the main thing and keeping that the main thing.”
Finding out this news as practice started didn’t phase Nix one bit.
“We all attacked every day like we were the starter,” Nix said, explaining why such big news didn’t impact his practice. “We all attacked each time we were able to go with the 1’s and each time we were able to switch up, we all went to practice like this was our opportunity to be the starter. If you go with that mindset and then they tell you, it shouldn’t change much because you’ve been practicing that way and that is your daily habit.”
While it was significant news, it was hardly a surprise. Even Payton admitted the team “kind of saw this coming to some degree” while the outside world knew it was only a matter of when Nix would be named the starter, not if.
“One of my goals in the offseason was to improve relationships with the local media, and I wanted you guys to hear it first,” Payton added with a laugh.
If all goes right with Bo Nix’s career, Aug. 21 will be remembered as the day Sean Payton officially crowned the franchise quarterback in near silence.
